IRIS 2017-9:1/8

Czech Republic

Czech Parliament adopted act on transition to DVB-T2

Jan Fučík

Česká televize, Prague

The Parliament of the Czech Republic voted the amendment to the Act on Electronic Communications. The amendment provides for the simplification of the process of changing mobile operators, and it also defines the rules governing the transition from DVB-T to the new standard DVB-T2. Discussions on the transition to DVB-T2 have been ongoing since 2013, when the government adopted the strategy Digital Czechia v. 2.0 - Road to Digital Economy, followed up by the Strategy of Frequency Spectrum in 2015 and the Strategy of Development of Digital Terrestrial TV Broadcasting in 2016. The transition to the new standard will come at a cost for consumers — hundreds to thousands of Czech korunas per home — in order to acquire a new TV set or set-top box. On the other hand, households will thus get a chance to get free TV, unlike with other platforms. The regulator warned that not adopting the amendment would endanger the transition to DVB-T2 and would result in lower coverage, a reduction in the number of channels and a controlled decommissioning of transmitters. Households would then need to rely on pay-TV options for reception. The law also reserves the appropriate capacity for the broadcasting of the public service television CT.